


Why Does Fate Make Us Suffer?

by Lilsciencequeen



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Happy Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-18
Updated: 2017-08-18
Packaged: 2018-12-17 00:07:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11839866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lilsciencequeen/pseuds/Lilsciencequeen
Summary: When Daisy and Fitz find that their team, their friends have been taken by AIDA and Radcliffe, they do the only thing that they can do...They rescue them.// A Season 4 AU where it was Fitz and Daisy, not Jemma and Daisy who saved their team.





	Why Does Fate Make Us Suffer?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [stjarna](https://archiveofourown.org/users/stjarna/gifts).



> Stjarna asked me for what happened to Jemma after she was replaced by an LMD that comes from [ this fic](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11181402). You don't need to read it to enjoy this one but feel free to.
> 
> I hope you guys enjoy this one. Title comes from What Have You Done by Within Temptation

They had finally found where AIDA and Radcliffe were keeping the team, hiding them. It had taken time, ten days to be more precise, to find where they were being held, Daisy and Fitz working day and night on a piece of coding to establish the origin of the Framework. And finally they had, the coding pinpointing exactly where in the world they were and now they were on their way to find their team, to rescue them.

Fitz found himself extremely nervous for some reason, at seeing Jemma again. It had been ten days since he last saw her, since she had been taken, kidnapped by AIDA and Radcliffe and he had been left alone. It had been ten days since the LMD invasion of the base. It had been ten days since he found out that Jemma had been replaced by an LMD. And it had been ten days since her LMD had made him promise that he would rescue her, propose to her and move to Perthshire with her. Since he had promised her LMD that he wouldn’t let the cosmos separate them once again. But now that he was about to see her again, he felt extremely nervous and he wasn’t too sure why.

He sighed, collapsing back on the bed. They were only a couple of hours away now and he had locked himself away in one of the bunks on the Zephyr. He needed the peace, the quiet, to clear his head and to come to terms with what had happened. Because so much had happened after he disabled the LMD Jemma. He had made his way through the base, hiding in every other room every time someone walked past him as he didn’t know who was an LMD and who wasn’t. Eventually, he had run into Daisy, and after some convincing, she had shown him that she was herself and not an android. And together, they had taken down the Mace, Mack and Coulson LMDs and taken a team of agents to the Zephyr, escaping with nothing but the clothes on their backs and some computer equipment they had managed to grab from the lab, as the May LMD destroyed the base after them, the explosion rocking the plane.

Fitz sighed again, reaching into his pocket and pulling out the small box he had managed to retrieve from his room before finding Daisy. He had been carrying it around with him since and it was a dark blue velvet. He flicked it open, wanting to check that everything was okay. The ring was still inside it, something that he had spent weeks making, and it shone in the dim light of the room. He had wanted to propose to Jemma in the coming days, or weeks, depending on when they would have managed to rescue May and stop Radcliffe. He would have taken her to the Italian just around the corner from the base, the one that she loved so much, and the place where they had had their ‘first official date’. He would have done it in the booth they loved so much, the star fair lights twinkling above them and the music soft. But now, now he wasn’t sure that he would ever be able to do that.

“Fitz?” came a voice from outside his door, a gentle knock as she called out to him. “Can I come in?”

He paused for a moment, not sure whether she should answer Daisy’s question or not but in the end, he decided that he should. That she would worry more if he ignored her. Sitting up, he called back a reply; “Yeah, yeah you can come in.”

The door opened slowly and the closed behind her as she made her way into the room, sitting on the bed beside him. “Davis says we’re only about an hour out.”

“That’s good,” he replied, not having any other answer to her statement.

“We’re going to get them back Fitz, you know that,” she told him, taking his hands in her own and giving them a reassuring squeeze. “We’re going to get her back.” Then she spotted the ring box that he had set on the bed beside him. Her eyes widened when she saw it, not blinking for a number of moments. “Is that?” she asked, unable to believe what she was seeing.

“An engagement ring?” he asked for confirmation, letting go of one of her hands and lifting the box up so that she could examine it. “Yeah, yeah it is.” He let out a heavy breath though his mouth.

“You’re going to propose her,” Daisy breathed, the edges of her lips curving up as she took in what she had just found ever.

“Yeah,” Fitz told her. “I was going to once we rescued May, and sorted out the whole Radcliffe thing, take her down to the Italian place that she likes so much…”

“ _Was_ ,” Daisy interrupted, picking up on the one word that had sounded odd in the situation. “You said was.”

Fitz shook his head. “She’s not going to want to marry me, not anymore. Not after all I’ve done. Who knows what they’ve done to her? How they’ve hurt her? She’s not going to want to be with me anymore.”

“Bullshit,” Daisy whispered, shaking her head and staring at him. “She loves you Fitz, no matter what. You two, you’re perfect for each other, and I’m not going to let anything separate you, let anything hurt you not again. Fitz, this here, this isn’t where your story ends. You two still have so much do, so much to live for. You understand that Fitz, I’m not going to let your story end here.”

After a moment pause, taking in her words, at what she had just said and what he had just promised, he nodded, slowly and as if he were unsure of himself.

***

“Clear,” Davis whispered as he searched another room, casting a glance over his shoulder at the team before backing out of the room and closing the door after a nod from Daisy. Fitz gave a long, annoyed sigh as that was another room that was empty, another room that didn’t hold their team or Jemma.

Daisy shot him a glance as if he was being too loud and he mouthed an apology as they moved forward once again, slow on their feet as they didn’t know what awaited them around every corner. Davis and Piper took the lead with Fitz and Daisy in the middle and Elena and Prince bringing up the rear.

Fitz was getting irritated at not having yet found anything but he knew that he had to keep calm and composed, that getting irrational angry wouldn’t solve anything or help anyone.

So they just kept walking, checking every room that they came to, all of which were empty so far until they reached the end of the corridor. Piper turned back to face Daisy as they reached the end, a heavy metal door in front of them. “Should I?” she whispered, her voice barely audible and Daisy nodded.

Piper reached forward, one arm raised cautiously and pushed the door open. The heavy metal thing creaked open slowly and if anyone found it suspicious that it was so easy to open, they didn’t say anything.

Piper and Davis stepped in first, and when they heard a gasp from their teammates, the rest of them hurried in and they could soon see why they had been so shocked. Their team was in that room, attached to what looked like boards and plugged into the Framework. They were all frozen for a moment, taking in those friends, those family members that they thought had been lost but…

“Where’s Jemma?” Prince asked, catching on to the fact that there was someone missing. And it was true, Jemma _wasn’t_ there. Mack, Mace, May, Coulon, they were all there, even Radcliffe was plugged into the Framework, seemingly dead since his arms were covered in ghoulish streaks of blood, as were his trousers but Jemma wasn’t there.

“No,” Fitz whispered, unable to believe what had happened, at the fact that the cosmos was still against them. “No. No. No. No!” With each word, he got louder and angrier, unable to contain the anger that was in him. He walked around the room, running his hands through his hair as he did so.

“Piper!” Daisy called, and the other woman looked up. “You know what to do?” The Inhuman held up the pen drive that she had and threw it, Piper catching it and hurrying over to the nearest computer, Davis joining her as the two of them began to work to remove their team from the Framework.  Then Daisy turned her attention to Fitz, stopping his pacing and hoping to calm him down. “Fitz, we’ll find her. Okay, we _will_ find her.”

Fitz nodded, squeezing his eye shut as the first tears began to fall. “I can’t lose her, not again Daisy.”

“And you won’t,” came a voice that was not Daisy’s. They turned to face where it was coming from and saw AIDA standing in the doorway, a dead smile on her face. “If you help me that is.”

“Where is she?” Fitz hissed at the android, not charging forward only because Daisy was holding him back. “Where’s Jemma, AIDA?”

AIDA cocked her head as if she couldn’t understand why the engineer was so angry. “Jemma is alive, Leopold, I don’t understand why you’re so angry. Agent Simmons is alive. I haven’t killed her.”

“Then where is she?” he all but shouted, his voice echoing around the room.

“I couldn’t insert her into the Framework, not with her counterpart there. Inserting her into the Framework would have killed her instantly. I know how much she means to you. I did consider it though, but killing her, it wouldn’t ensure your cooperation. I needed her alive.”

Daisy felt Fitz try and pull free from her grip but she held onto him still, not wanting Fitz to anger the android any more than he already had. Daisy could understand his anger; it seemed that AIDA was using Jemma for something, trying to get to Fitz for some reason, the reason, well she wasn’t sure of that, not yet anyway.

“You see,” AIDA began to repeat, as though she were hoping to get the message across to Fitz. “I need your help Leopold and as I’ve said, I needed to keep her alive. Killing her, while it would have been what you might call satisfactory, it wouldn’t ensure your cooperation…”

“Where is she?” he shouted again, wanting to know where Jemma was. He had picked up on what AIDA had said, what she had implied, what she had wanted to do. “Tell me!”

AIDA frowned, and then spoke again. “I need your help Leopold. I want a body of my own, and not be confined by the limitations that I’m currently facing.”

“And you think that I can do that?” he asked, momentarily stopping his demands to get Jemma back.

AIDA nodded. “You can, and if you help me, if you enter the Framework, give me the body that I want, the body that I _deserve_ , I’ll give you your Jemma back.” There was venom in her words as she spoke Jemma’s name. “She’s here, you don’t need to worry about her, Leopold. She’s here. And I’ve not hurt her that much.”

Fitz looked at Daisy as if asking her what to do but Daisy just shoved him out of the way and raised one arm, quaking AIDA. The LMD was send flying back and hit the wall and Fitz stared at her, at her body crumpled on the floor. “Go,” Daisy told him. “Find Jemma. We’ll work out what’s happening here.”

Fitz nodded, he didn’t need to be told twice to look for Jemma. He fled the room, only faintly aware that Elena and Prince were following him. The three of them made their way through the base, and headed down the stairs to the floor below, one of the only floors that they hadn’t checked. They looked into three rooms before they found her, Jemma.

She was in the fourth room, sitting on the floor with her legs curled up underneath her. Her arms were behind her back and it seemed as though she were tied to the wall. The right side of her face was swollen up and there was blood hidden in her hairline.

“Jemma,” he breathed upon seeing her and he took a couple of steps closer to her before collapsing to the ground and pulling her into a hug. She couldn’t hug him back but she allowed her head to come and rest on his shoulder, sobbing as she did so. “I’m so sorry,” he told her. “I’m so sorry Jemma.”

“I missed you,” she told him. “I’ve missed you so much.” She lifted her head up from his shoulder and looked up at him, smiling at him. He reached up as she did so, stroking the left side of her face so that he didn’t cause her anymore of her pain. Seeing her in pain, her eye black and swollen shut, he felt his heart twist, he hated that it had happened. But despite everything, she was still smiling and he could see a twinkle in her left eye, full of love and life. “Are the team safe?”

He nodded. “Yeah, yeah they are. Daisy, Piper and Davis are getting them out.” He turned his attention away from Jemma for a moment, and to Prince who had been standing guard at the door with Elena, the two of them looking anxious and as if they wanted nothing more than to leave. “Do you have a knife?” he asked, having noticed that it was just ropes that was tying her to the wall.

The other agent nodded, and lifted on out of his pocket. He passed it to the engineer. “Thanks,” Fitz told him and moved around so that he could free Jemma. After some effort, he managed to cut her free and she rubbed at her wrists, rubbed raw from the rope. She threw her arms around his neck, pulling him in close as they embraced after so long apart. She lifted her head so that she could bring her lip to his, kissing him, tender and full of love.

“I can’t lose you again,” she told him. “I don’t want to lose you again.”

“You won’t,” he reassured him and kissed her on her forehead. “I promise you you won’t. Now come on, let’s get out of here.”

***

It was two hours later everyone was back on the Zephyr safe and alive, Mace and May needing more medical care than the others. Jemma had been sent to medical as well, everyone not accepting her pleas that she was okay. Tests showed that she was dehydrated, and with her injuries, she had no choice in the matter. Fitz had carried her down into medical (not that she complained after that, in fact she nearly fell asleep in his arms and she did as soon as he had tucked her into the bed), whispering soft vows that he wasn’t going to let any harm come to her, not anymore.

He stayed by her side as she slept, the gentle rise and fall of her chest peaceful. It still hurt him though, to see the blood and the bruises covering her face. Jemma hadn’t yet said what AIDA, or the Superior had done to her, just how they had tortured her and he never pressed the issue, knowing that Jemma would open up in her own time, she always did.

She was still asleep when Davis landed the jet hours later, just a short walk from a S.H.I.E.L.D. safehouse. They had chosen that specific location since they couldn’t return to base; Mace and May needed to recover after all they had suffered in recent weeks and the team needed to regroup after all that had happened, figure out what they needed to do next.

Fitz carried Jemma into the house and was able to take her into the main room, setting her on the bed and tucking her in once again. In her sleep, her lips curved up into a smile and Fitz couldn’t help smiling at her too. She was safe and she was alive and that’s all that mattered to him.

He reached forward from his place on the chair beside her bed and took her hand in his own, rubbing his thumb over the back of it, her skin slightly dry. He sighed, leaning back and closing his eyes, thinking about how all of this could have been prevented if he hadn’t developed the technology with Radcliffe. He didn’t know what the others had been through in the Framework, what world they had been thrown into, but he knew that it couldn’t have been good; with how Coulson had spent the whole journey pacing, seemingly shaken by something and how Elena had sat with Mack, comforting him as silent tears streamed down his face.

He shook his head, not knowing, not comprehending what he could do next, not knowing how he would be able to fix this. With those thoughts swimming in his mind, and the exhaustion of the last ten days finally overtaking him, he fell asleep.

***

Her hand was in his.

That was the first thing that she noticed when she woke up.

That her hand was in his.

The edge of her lips curved up as she took in the sight, it was something so simple but it brought her so much joy. There was a nervous fluttering in her stomach and her body still ached from what had happened to her over the last week and a bit but she didn’t care. In time, the pain would fade but Fitz was here with her, her best friend, the man that she loved. And she wouldn’t change a thing about it.

She remained there in bed, lying and smiling at him for a while longer, trying not to laugh at the gentle snores coming from him when he awoke, confused at first and then she saw it, the look of love pass across his face as he saw her.

“Hi,” he whispered, bringing her hand up to his lips and placing a delicate kiss on her fingers. “How are you?”

She smiled at him, and pushed herself into a sitting position. She gave a soft noise of pain as she did so and Fitz’s face flashed with concern as she did so and she shook her head. “I’m okay,” she told him, hoping to reassure him. “I’m okay. I promise you Fitz, I’m okay.”

He smiled at her, nodding. “That’s… that’s good.” He let out a breath, close his eyes and rubbed at his face. “I want to talk to you Jemma.”

She frowned, worried now that something was wrong. “Fitz… what’s wrong?”

He sighed, and leaned forward, reaching into his pocket with one hand. “I know after all that’s happened recently, after all that you’ve been through that if you don’t want to say yes, if you don’t want this, then that’s okay Jemma. I would never make you do anything you wouldn’t want to do but I love you Jemma, I love you more than anything in the world, and I can’t imagine my life without you, I _don’t_ want to imagine my life without you. I want to grow old with you, spent the rest of my days with you in Perthshire, maybe with a family of our own.”

“Fitz?” Jemma interpreted, having an idea of what Fitz was saying, what he was _asking_ but not completely sure, she was scared that she was misinterpreting his words, and hearing only what she hoped she was hearing.

He let out a breath, and pulled out a blue velvet box from his pocket, flicking it open and revealing a ring in it. She gasped at it, at the jewels that twinkled in the light that pierced through the curtains. It seemed as though it was a double helix, the two strands of silver wrapped intricately around each other. It was beautiful, simply magnificent and Jemma couldn’t help the tears that began to stream down her face. “Will you marry me Jemma?”

She nodded, wiping away a tear and allowing Fitz to slide the ring on her finger. “Yes, Fitz,” she whispered, cupping his face with her hand and bringing her lips to his own, kissing him, slow and tender. It was a kiss full of love and hope, promises for the future. “I will marry you.”  

**Author's Note:**

> I can't seem to stop writing some season 4 angst with happy ending? And I was always going to have an engagement. If only canon would give us this. Thanks so much for checking out, I hope that you enjoyed.


End file.
